Monday, August 26, 2013

Ten Misconceptions that Make Occultists Laugh and Why You Should Care

If you want to witness to pagans, witches or other occultists, there are some things you should know. Because if people don't respect you, they're not going to listen to you. And pagans will not respect you if you go around spouting off misconceptions as though they're facts.

Christians already have a reputation among occultists as ignorant and uneducated, and they are greatly annoyed by Christians who speak falsehoods about them.

If you know a little something about what you're talking about, at least enough to avoid spouting off myths, you're more likely to be heard when sharing the Gospel.

Here are ten common misconceptions you can learn the truth about so you can be a more effective witness:

1. The words cult and occult are interchangeable.

They are not. Whenever someone accuses an occultist of being "in an occult," if they don't laugh out loud you can be sure they're at least cringing inside.

The word occult means "secret or hidden knowledge, even though, ironically it's becoming mainstream and not so secret anymore. It refers to teachings and practices that attempt to bring powers of the supernatural under control.

The word cult refers to a specific spiritual system or group that adheres to a spiritual system. This is a group of people or the cultic religion they adhere to.

Some cults are occultic and some are not. And some occultists are in cults and some are not. When I was in the occult, I spent some time in a cult, and some time as a solitary practitioner.

2. You can identify occultists by the way they dress.

Not all occultists dress in all black or wear lots of gaudy costume jewelry. When I worked at a psychic line, there were some who wore stereotypical gypsy garb, some who wore pajama pants and some who wore jeans.

Many occultists look just like everyone else, and some occult professionals wear business attire just like other professionals.

Often they will have at least one jewelry item that identifies their beliefs, but they don't always wear these. I had a variety of items in my wardrobe. There were times I sported pentagrams and crescent moons, and other times I donned classic pieces that had no symbolic meaning at all.

Most occultists dress the same way others do: for the occasion.

3. People in the occult are very gullible and not very intelligent. At best they are insane.

Ironically, many occultists think the same thing about Christians.

The truth is that many occultists are highly educated people who exercise critical thinking very well, in many areas of their lives. Many of them are doctors, lawyers, engineers, architects, political leaders, professors, police, fire fighters and computer systems analysts.

It's not lack of intelligence that causes occultists to be deceived. It's a lack of wisdom. Wisdom does not come from intelligence. It comes from a fear of the Lord.

4. All occultists love satan and enjoy being evil.

You might be surprised how kind, loving and humanitarian many occultists are. In fact, most of them believe they are serving the Light (usually spelled with a capital L, the way we spell God with a capital G) and do not believe in any kind of devil.

When they are sinning, like most people, they don't think of it as sin. When they are doing evil, they believe they are doing good.

They're not sitting around rubbing their hands together and laughing sinister laughter while they plot how they're going to destroy Christians. At least most of them aren't. And most of them do not take pleasure in causing harm to anyone. In fact, many of them are very much against causing harm to any living being.

They just believe, mistakenly, that Christians have been misled and they want to disabuse them of their so-called false beliefs. They really want to make the world a better place. They've just been deceived about what that means.

5. Occultists fear crosses and Bibles.

Actually a lot of them wear crosses, and many of them read the Bible more than the average Christian. In fact, I quoted it often and even used scripture in some of my pagan/new age articles. Many occultists love the Bible. They just interpret the Bible differently and they either don't believe in the whole thing, or they believe in it symbolically. Some actually use passages from the Bible in incantations.

Contrary to what has been shown in some deliverance videos, most occultists will not scream if you put a Bible on their heads.

Although, I did know a witch once who screamed "I'm melting" when someone threw holy water on her in a restaurant. But that was a joke. She never really melted.

By the way, holy water isn't really holy, but that's another article.

6. Witches worship a god named Sam Hain and Halloween is his birthday.

The word Samhain is pronounced "Sowen," like cow and pen, and means "summer's end." Sam Hain is not only a mispronunciation but also an urban legend.

Halloween, or Samhain, is a celebration that marks the point between autumn equinox and winter solstice, which is in some ways more interesting than a god named Sam Hain, if you understand the significance of the equinoxes and solstices among witches.

Since much of witchcraft was originally driven by a desire to please the gods so the crops would grow, the course of the sun (which is worshiped by many witches) is very important to them.

7. All occultists are Wiccans.
Wiccans are witches, yes, but not all witches or occultists are Wiccans.

Just as Christianity has many denominations, there are many different traditions of witchcraft. Aside from Wicca, there are also the Asatru, the Alexandrians, the Gardnerians, Dianics, Romanis, Druids, Teutonics, Discordians, Georgians, Celtics, Thelemics, Deboreans, and Eclectics, to name a few. There are also traditions of Qabala, Stregheria, Voodoo, Shamanism, Hermeticism, Santeria, Theosophy, Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, and many more.

If you meet someone who is an occultist, ask the person what tradition he or she follows, rather than automatically referring to Wicca. It will be appreciated and you are likely to learn something about the person that could help you further in your witnessing.

8. All witches are meat eaters.
Actually, vegetarianism and veganism are gaining popularity in a lot of pagan circles. It is true that they like to eat meat with their hands and get it all over themselves, which is a lot less appealing in real life than in the movies, especially after five days in the woods or the desert.

But there is a huge movement toward vegetarianism that has been catching on for some time.

Some of it stems from Hindu teachings which state that animals are our ancestors reincarnated. Other influences come from the Mother Earth agenda, which is related to indigenous teachings, and says that it's harmful to the earth to eat meat because it consumes too many of our natural resources.

This is one reason Whole Foods is so full of pagans.

9. Occultists stay out of churches.
Occultists of all kinds attend churches. In fact, that's where they find many of their recruits. It's quite possible, even likely, that you have at least one occultist in your church.

I knew a Voudon priestess who attended a Baptist church. I knew Wiccans who attended Methodist churches. I knew Theosophists who attended Presbyterian and non-denominational churches. And as an infiltrator, I attended a variety of churches.

Not all who attend church are doing it to infiltrate. Some are doing it to socialize, some for the sake of their children, and some actually believe erroneously that Christianity is compatible with their beliefs. Their beliefs might be okay with Christianity, but Christianity is not okay with their beliefs. But again, that's another article too.

10. Occultism is all about symbols and hand signs.
No, witches are not running around flashing one another back and forth with hand signs, and the symbols they use are not of utmost importance to them.

Yes, hand signs and symbols are significant to them and are indeed used, not only to communicate certain things but also to perform magick.

But symbols and hand signs are not the bulk of what consumes most occultists. They use symbols and hand signs, as well as many, many other things. Study, spell work, worship of deities, self-evolution, global ascension, and healing others are just some of the things that take priority in occultists' lives.

If you learned anything new from this article, you are now a little bit better equipped for witnessing to occultists. You will gain a tremendous amount of respect for having taken just a few moments to educate yourself.

Jesus died for occultists too. The least we can do is be a little less annoying and a little more informed.

I learned the difference between "cult" and "occult" in an Old Testament literature class in college. LOL.

An interesting thing about my past . . . my former sister-in-law (my ex-wife's sister) was a Wiccan. Her husband was an atheist. When they divorced, due to demands of the husband, the judge ordered that neither parent could raise their daughter in a religious philosophy. Due to this, the daughter learned nothing of her mother's religion, but went to church twice a month with my other former sister-in-law and her family . . . all of whom are devout Christians to this day.

Thanks so much for your faithfulness to share with so many Pennie. Knowledge from your past and zeal for your future are so evident in your day-to-day life. Thank you also for the reminder that God loves each person on this earth...regardless of what they believe. I must remember to look at others through His eyes.